Inspiration, ideas and information to help women build public speaking content, confidence and credibility. Denise Graveline is a Washington, DC-based speaker coach who has coached nearly 200 TEDMED and TEDx speakers--including one of 2016's most popular TED talks. She also has prepared speakers for presentations, testimony, and keynotes. She offers 1:1 coaching and group workshops in public speaking, presentation and media interview skills to both men and women.

Thursday, December 28, 2017

According to the most-read posts on this blog in 2017, readers are concerned about the many situations in which women are silenced and how to counter. But you're also just as concerned about how to improve your speaking, whether it's figuring out how to prepare better, or how to emulate one of the most popular TED talks. That's the mix of most-read posts this year, a combination of the personal and the political when it comes to public speaking. Take a look at what your fellow readers thought were our most important posts:

When a man hogs the mic at the Women's March documented how Michael Moore spoke longer any other individuals at the March, even though prominent women speakers were interrupted and told to wind up their remarks quickly. Actor Ashley Judd came up with a masterful way to stop Moore and let the program continue.

Women and power? The double standard of the severed head builds on an article by classic scholar Mary Beard Trump' s use of a violent image of Hillary Clinton being beheaded as Medusa, in comparison to a similar image that came under fire when comedian Kathy Griffin imitated it. The first image caused no outcry; but when when a woman used it, she had to apologize and it nearly ruined her career.

Want to boost conference attendance? Add women speakers pokes at something that's always bothered me: why women have trouble getting on the program at most conferences, while women's conferences draw record attendance and profits. And conferences that make a point of boosting attendance by women see the results. Try it in 2018.